


Second Chances

by CartoonJessie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, Graphic Novel, Rumbelle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 15:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3415268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CartoonJessie/pseuds/CartoonJessie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Rumbelle graphic novel! (Complete!) Let the images do most of the storytelling for you. ;-) Just check it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Before you begin this tale, know that each of these images has been made by yours truly. (Aka me)   
> Feel free to save them to your pc for inspiration, but please, do not distribute them on any other social media (Aka Facebook, tumblr, twitter, whatever)   
> I have posted this graphic novel on Tumblr about a year ago, so if you recognize it, that's where you should have seen it. ;-)

She was exactly as his neighbor Marie had described: a beautiful, young woman, dressed as though she came from a far-off land, sophisticated, but also strange. There was no better description Rumpelstiltskin could have given the young woman he saw sitting by the table in the corner of the tavern. Though there was a book in front of her, she was distracted, and she stared into the flame of the candle in front of her, clearly not thinking of the content of those pages. But what was it that this young woman wanted to give to him? And why hadn’t she just given it to Marie instead? He was certain that his neighbor could be trusted and he wondered what was so important that this strange woman wanted to see him in person. Him – of all people! What could she possibly want of him, the town’s coward, the spinner?

His gaze turned graver as he made his way through the crowd. The memories of Milah leaving him two years earlier clouded his mind. She had sat by a table with pirates in that very same bar, on the day before she had left him, looking for the company of rogues, trusting them to entertain her… but this young woman was quite different. There were plenty of visitors in the tavern today, but she didn’t seek anyone’s company. She seemed perfectly content with the company of nothing but her own thoughts. Once more he wondered what she wanted of him and against his own wish, he felt himself grow more nervous.

“Excuse me, but I believe you were looking for me?”  
 _Bad timing._  She had just been gulping down her drink and she looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. It was clear that she hadn’t expected him at that moment, and the spinner couldn’t help but feel that he had startled her. She even looked a little scared – as though she was looking at a ghost.  
“Yes,” she finally managed to reply, staring at him a little breathlessly, almost completely at a loss for words.

There was something about the way she looked at him which made him feel very self-aware. She had been expecting… _more_ , hadn’t she? She probably hadn’t expected a spinner, dressed in rags. But even as she stared at him, he did not feel completely uncomfortable. There was something about her gaze that was… _familiar?_  Was that possible? He was certain that he had never met her before. He would have remembered. But she didn’t look at him as though he was a total stranger or someone she wanted to have nothing to do with. It was a very odd sensation.  
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked her, but she merely shook her head. Rumpelstiltskin figured that she probably didn’t want to take any of his money, not after seeing the state of his clothing. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to be hospitable to such a beautiful, young lady that had come to town to see no one but him.    
“Alright,” he continued a little awkwardly. “I’ll get something for myself, if you’ll excuse me.”

As he returned with a small cup of mead, he noticed that she was still staring at him, almost as though she was checking if he was real, her look dreamy and… sad?  
 _Why would a beautiful young woman like her be so sad_? He wondered.  
“My apologies, my lady,” he said politely as he gently set his cup down on the table. “But I can’t help but have the impression that I disappoint you. Were you expecting someone else?”

“Disappoint me?” she repeated weakly. “No…. You are  _exactly_  who I was expecting. I’m just… I’m sad because I lost a good friend recently and you remind me of him.” She smiled in an apologizing way and motioned to the seat opposite her. “Please… Please, sit down.”

“Why would you think you disappoint me?” she asked him in a gentle tone as he took a seat opposite her.  
“I’m not sure,” he replied honestly. “But there was something in the way you looked at me. And you are dressed so lovely and I am wearing nothing but rags. I can’t imagine what business a woman such as you could want with myself.”

“You underestimate yourself, Rumpelstiltskin,” she replied, her sad tone changing into one that was more playful. “Sure, you may be dressed in rags, but you are worth more than you know.”  
He was surprised that she knew his name and used it in such a familiar tone. Once again he wondered if they had met before. She was so beautiful and the way she looked at him… There was something in her eyes which he had not seen in a very long time: a respect and adoration which he had grown unaccustomed to, and which he only spotted in Bae’s eyes every now and then.

As she opened her book, she suddenly took out an envelope and slid it over the table.  
“I came to give you this,” she told him, and he cast his eyes down to look at the handwriting. For some reason it looked familiar, but he could not tell why.   
“I came from very far to make sure you got it. Please read it, but do it in private. Don’t open it here.”  
“Who’s it from?” he wondered, not taking his eyes off the paper. “Do I even know this person?”  
“Not really,” she replied honestly. “But you two have a lot in common.”  
“Thank you,” Rumpelstiltskin said softly. “Not just for delivering this, but for your kindness.”

“I hardly did anything and you call that kindness already?” she remarked teasingly.   
“I apologize…” He cast his eyes down, a blush spreading over his face, her presence suddenly making him feel twenty years younger. “I suppose I’m not used to the company of a beautiful woman such as yourself.”  
She tried to suppress a grin at those words and her own blush matched his.  
“Well… Get used to it. I’ll be dropping by again soon. I promise.” She packed her stuff together and got up from the table. “It was good to see you, Rumpelstiltskin.”

“Wait…” he called out hesitatingly as she turned to leave him. “You never told me your name.”  
She looked at him for a brief moment, but then she smiled and simply replied: “Belle. I’ll be around a little while longer. I’ll see you soon. Promise.”  
And with those words they parted ways, leaving Rumpelstiltskin to wonder when he would see her again.


	2. Chapter 2

The letter had left him quite shaken. For a few days, he had considered it to be nothing but lies. Someone was fooling him – that had to be it.   
But he finally knew why he had recognized the handwriting – it was his own, only more trained. And his future self had written down some things that nobody but he himself knew. And then there had been the page about Belle, telling him that she was his true love – that she had seen him through his ugliest moments, but that she had always loved him.  
He had read about the horrible fate that would befall him in a few years, when they would claim Baelfire for the Ogre Wars, and everything that it would lead to, and he had felt horrified.  
But he took the advice of his future self to heart, and he vowed not to repeat that mistake. And wondering when he would see the beautiful Belle once more, he startled when she appeared in his small home, her expression curious, but cautious as she looked at him, and there was still that sadness on her face – the sadness one bore when they had lost someone they had loved. 

“Belle,” he acknowledged quietly, realizing that this had to be even stranger to her than it was to him.   
“Did you read the letter?” she asked, her voice rather neutral and emotionless, though there was a nervous look in her eye, almost as though she feared his answer.  
“Yes,” he replied. “Yes, I did. Please, sit down my dear.”

As she sat in front of him, he could not help but stare at her and mark her ivory skin and rosy cheeks, her plumb lips and pretty nose, her beautiful shape which betrayed she hadn’t been hungry a single day in her life, and then there was him – dressed in rags, dirt on his face and in his hair, crippled and poor and with nothing to offer her.  
“How could someone as beautiful as you ever fall for someone like me?” he wondered out loud.

“At first you didn’t believe I loved you,” she admitted, casting her eyes down. “It took us a while to get together.” She looked up at him and shot him a brave little smile. “But your heart is true and beautiful – and not at all cowardly, even if you don’t believe that yourself. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and I know that this has been especially true in your life.”

“Belle…” His voice trembled as her words had left quite an impact on him and he gulped heavily. “I have nothing to offer you. Everything you see around you is everything I own. I don’t want to condemn you to a life of poverty. You are young and beautiful and you could have such a wonderful life, with any man you’d want. Why would you settle for me?”

“Because I love you,” she replied simply. “And I remember what your love felt like when I still had it. Not once did I feel like I needed more than that to be happy. There is nothing else I would expect from you, Rumpelstiltskin, you would be enough.”

“But Belle, I would never forgive myself if I’d have to watch you waste away or starve to death.”  
She suddenly raised her hand and signaled for him to stop.  
“Rumpel, I knew you wouldn’t have much before I came here. Trust me, I anticipated it. I’ve brought some treasure with me, which should solve those problems, not just for me, but also for you and Baelfire.”  
He breathed out a sigh of relief, and shook his head in a disbelieving way.   
“He had written that you always thought of everything,” he acknowledged. “You truly are a miracle. But is this what you want – what you  _really_  want? A simple life with me and my boy?”  
She took his hand from the table and brought it to her mouth, placing a soft kiss on it.   
“It is, Rumpelstiltskin.”

She gently rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand, casting her eyes down a little shyly.   
“I realize that this must all be very odd to you. You hardly even know me, and here I am, promising my unconditional love. I don’t want to force you to anything. I still have a room at the tavern, so I can return there until you think…”  
“Belle, sweetheart…” He put his own hand over hers and looked at her with all the adoration he felt for her clear in his eyes. “It’s alright. You can stay with me. I’ll look after you now.”

It looked as though a weight fell off her shoulders and she suddenly surprised Rumpelstiltskin by leaning closer to him and placing a soft kiss on his cheek.  
“No, Rumpelstiltskin,” she corrected him gently. “From now on, we’ll look after each other.”  
  
 **The end**


End file.
